Death By Chocolate
by Melli
Summary: Lina is poisoned with an incurable disease. It takes her near-death to make Gourry realize his feelings for her. Very sad ending.


Death By Chocolate  
Ronad was a wealthy, well-educated man from a high-class family. He had two sisters and a brother, who lived with him and his parents in their mansion. There, he had a happy life, a charmed life. Note the use of the past tense.  
His ticket to the easy life was taken away about six months ago. Ronad was returning home from college for a holiday break. But as he neared his hometown, all that could be seen in its place was an enormous pile of rubble, ash, and a crew of workers cleaning up.  
Ro walked up to one of the workers to ask what had happened.  
"The town's destroyed, kid. Some monster attack and a fight with a group of sorcerers. Sorry, no survivors." When asked for more details, the man told him, "From what I heard, a group of mazoku had a vendetta against a particular sorceress who just happened to be staying here with her lackeys. They attacked her and she used a really powerful spell that leveled the area. Her name? Lina Inverse..."  
Ronad took a vow that night, a vow to avenge his family. A vow to avenge his friends, his home, his roots. A vow to kill Lina Inverse. From that day on, he searched for her. When he found the traveling party, he followed, studying her every move. After months of endless spying, he found a conclusion. Finally, Ro had found the weakness of the famous sorceress, Lina Inverse.  
* * * *  
"Liiiiinnnnnnaaaaa! I'm hunnnggggrrrryyyyyy!" Gourry whines.  
"All right, all right! If it'll shut you up, we can stop at this inn for a meal. I never turn down the offer of food!"  
Later, after triple portions of every item on the menu, Lina sits back and pats her stomach, satisfied. Amelia and Gourry do the same while Zelgadis sips his coffee, watching them calmly.  
"Wow, that was terrible! The worst food I've ever had!" she cries, even though she seemed to be enjoying it on her second portion of their piles of food.  
"Yeah, I couldn't eat another bite of that crap!" Gourry declares as he finishes off a chicken leg and reaches for another.  
The kitchen doors open and, speak of the devil!, the chef walks out of the kitchen, carrying a small dish of chocolate mousse.  
with a French accent "Bonjour, mes amis! I trust you are enjoying you meal, n'est-ce pas? Zel clamps his hand over Lina's mouth before she makes a sarcastic remark Oui, oui. Anyway, I heard that I was cooking for the famous Lina Inverse, so I made my famed chocolate mousse for her! I hope you like it, I added a special ingredient!" big Xellos wink The chef sets the plate down in front of a sickened Lina.  
"Gee, thanks, but, erm, I'm really full. If I eat another bite, I'll explode for sure!" At least she has the decency to pretend his food was good.  
"Oh, but you must! It's an insult in my country to turn down free food," the chef insists, starting to sweat a little.  
"Well, we're not in your country, now are we? Now go away!" Lina's starting to get pissed.  
"Please! Pretty please with sugar on top? You really need to taste this! It's a delicacy!"  
"If it's anything like the rest of your comestibles..." she mumbles, but then says to his face, "Ano, I'm sorry, but I don't especially like chocolate. In fact, I'm allergic! Yeah, that's it, I'm allergic to chocolate, especially in mousse form. Guess I won't be eating your desert, eh?" She grins, pleased with her quick thinking.  
"But Lina, weren't you just craving chocolate mousse yesterday? You said something like, 'If I don't get some chocolate soon, I think I'll-' Ow!"  
Lina stomps on his foot, laughing and fidgeting, trying (and succeeding) to shut him up.  
"Oh, did you say chocolate mousse? Ohhhh, I thought you said...she couldn't think of anything that sounded remotely like chocolate mousse, so she just contnued Well, that changes everything!" Giant sweatdrop  
She shoves her spoon into the brown goo.  
Slow-mo The utensil slowly makes its way up to the redhead's mouth, while the chef looks on anxiously.  
Back to normal speed Lina shovels in the whole bowl, pushed away the dirty dish, and licks her lips.  
"Hmm, that wasn't so bad. So what was the secret ingredient?"  
The chef takes on an evil look and grins mischievously. "Oh, nothing so special..." he says casually. "Just...iocane powder! MWAHAHAHA! (evil laugh)"  
Zelgadis gasps and drops his coffee cup while the others look at him blankly. The chef continues to laugh.  
"What? What the hell is iocane powder? Some kind of rare spice from your home country?" Lina asks, confused.  
"L-l-lina.." Zel starts. "Iocane powder is a deadly poison and you just ate a whole dish of it."  
At this time, the chef stops laughing and throws off his costume to reveal...drum roll, please  
"Who the hell are you?" Lina growls at the strange man in front of her. No one recognizes him. Sweatdrop  
He's a medium-sized man, with medium skin and medium hair. Overall, he's an average man with no remarkable features, save for the fact that he's a tad on the skinny side. (How anticlimactic)  
"My name is Ronad. You don't know me, but I know you very well," he sneers.  
"So why did you poison me? What did I ever do to you? You're not another one of Gaav's minions, are you?"  
"Do you remember a little town called Cartha? You and your groupies stopped to eat there about six months ago. You also totally destroyed it with your magic, you witch!" Ro accused Lina.  
Lina scratches her head for a second, then, when the realization dawns on her, she puts her arm behind her head, blushing and giggling guiltily.  
"Heh heh, yeah, now that you mention it, that was where we were attacked by mazoku, wasn't it..."  
"It was my hometown. All my family lived there. Imagine what it feels like to come home from school and find that everybody you ever loved had died, and your home blown up! That's what happened to me!" He clenched his fists in anger and spoke through gritted teeth.  
"Awwww, that's so sad, Mr. Ronad! I can't imagine losing my daddy and my home! We all offer our heartfelt apologies, and I hope you can forgive us," Amelia pleads with tears in her sympathetic eyes. She clutches her hand under her chin in a begging gesture.  
Ro snorts and snaps, "Apologies? It's too late for apologies! Apologies won't bring my folks back. Apologies won't give me a home. Apologies won't fix my whole life! But no matter, what's done is done, and the deaths of my family members will soon be avenged with the death of Lina inverse! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! (evil laugh)"  
"GRRRRRR!" The sorceress in question growls, growing fangs. "FIREBALL! FIREBALL! FIREBALL!" She and Ronad turn SD as the fiery girl chases him out of the inn, fireballing him all the while.  
Amelia, Zel, and Gourry stand in silence for a minute. Then Amelia asks, "So, Mr. Zelgadis, you seem to know a lot about this iocane powder...How serious is this?"  
"I'm afraid it's very serious, Amelia. Lina will die a slow, painful death and there's nothing we can do about it," he replies somberly.  
"So there's absolutely no cure?" Gourry inquires, concerned.  
Zelgadis shakes his head and says, "No, all we can do is make Lina as comfortable as possible."  
"But Miss Lina looks fine. Maybe there's some kind of mistake. Maybe he put the wrong thing in her food by accident, "Amelia hypothesizes hopefully.  
"It'll take a while to kick in. From then, it'll be about a week before she...you know..." Everyone bows their heads, not wanting to think about what will happen in only one week's time.  
* * * *  
Diner for Lina and the gang. They'd made it to Sairune and are dining with Prince Phil. Lina seems to have forgotten the whole poison thing; she's her old self again, eating everything in sight. On the other hand, her friends don't have much of an appetite.  
Amelia whispers to Gourry, "Do you think she's forgotten that she's dying? Or is she trying to put off thinking about it?"  
Right before Gourry responds, Lina, who had been having an animated conversation with Phil, suddenly stops. Her mouth closes, she drops the chicken in her hand, and she stares blankly into space.  
"Miss Lina? Miss Lina, are you okay? Was it something I said?" Prince Phil had noticed that his conversation had abruptly stopped.  
"Oh no, I think the iocane powder has started working," Zel whispers. "We need to get her to a bed quickly."  
Phil claps his hands and servants come to take her away.  
"Don't worry, we'll take care of her. We have the most advanced medical technology in the area. Erm, what exactly is wrong anyway?" he asks, feeling left out.  
"Oh, Daddy! It was so horrible! Someone poisoned Miss Lina! She *accidentally* killed his family, so he tried to kill *her*! And Mr. Zelgadis says there's no way to help her and she's going to die soon!" Amelia sobs and runs to hug her father.  
"Why, that's horrible! Miss Lina has never hurt any innocent people! (sweatdrop) Who is this evil-doer who tries to harm our defender?" Phil begins to launch into a justice speech. Luckily, Zel interrupts him.  
"Lina took care of him. She friend him many times over. He's probably dead. No need to serve justice; it's already done," he attempts to avoid one of their infamous justice speeches.  
"Oh...Well then...Let's go see if the Royal Medics have been able to help her."  
The four walk to the infirmary in silence. When they arrive, they peer through the glass window. About six or seven doctors surround the limp body of Lina. They're poking, prodding, and running dozens of tests, trying to diagnose her.  
After a minute or two, the activity lessens and the medics move away, out of the room. One approaches Prince Phil & the others and bows.  
"Your Highness, we have reached a conclusion. The patient is diagnosed with poisoning from iocane powder," he starts.  
"Well, I could have told you that! What we want to know is if you can do anything about it!" Zelgadis snaps angrily as the doctor stares at him, frightened.  
"Yeah, you've got to help Lina. Is there anything at all we can do?" Gourry inquires, very worried about his fallen comrade.  
"Right now, all we can do is stay with her and try to make her feel comfortable. Nature will take its course in due time," the doctor states, comforted by the blonde's gentleness.  
Silence as everyone absorbs this information.  
"Well, can we see her?"  
"Sure, go right in. Speak softly, she's just coming around."  
The quartet shuffles past the doctor into the small hospital room. Lina is lying on a narrow bed with guard rails, her eyes shut. She is as pale as a vampire, completely limp, and her red hair is stuck in clumps to her sweaty forehead. The usually vibrant sorceress looks weak and fragile.  
"M-miss L-lina?" Amelia hesitantly whispers. "Can you hear me?"  
Lina stirs and her eyes flutter open. They have a far away, vacant look and won't quite focus.  
"Amelia, is that you? What's going on?" she mumbles feebly.  
"I'm here, Miss Lina! We all are. Me, daddy, Mr. Zelgadis, Mr. Gourry..."  
"Good, I need some help fighting Kopii Rezo. There's another one and my powers don't seem to work. Must be that time of the month. Heh heh..."  
Usually, Gourry would ask what 'that time of the month' is, but he and everyone else in the room are too grief-stricken to bother.  
"She's hallucinating..." Zel explains to Gourry's perplexed expression.  
Amelia suddenly bursts into tears. "I can't stand to see Miss Lina like this!" she cries as she runs out of the room. Phil follows her to comfort his bereft daughter.  
"Where did Amelia go? Is she too chicken to fight Kopii?" Another forced laugh.  
"Lina, we're not fighting anyone. Kopii Rezo was defeated a long time ago. You're in the hospital 'cus...'cus...Hey, Zel? Why is she here again?" Lina's faithful sidekick had resumed his habitual confused state.  
Zel sweatdrops, regains his composure, and answers Gourry through gritted teeth. "She's in the hospital because she's sick! She was poisoned and now her days are numbered!"  
Gourry flinches at the brutal honesty Zelgadis used to clarify the situation.  
"Poisoned? The beautiful, brilliant, powerful, beautiful sorceress (weak cough) Lina Inverse? Hah! Never!" the patient declares, still half-delusional.  
"The drugs should be wearing off soon. Then we can have a real conversation with her. Let's just go to bed, Gourry, and try to get some rest."  
* * * *  
Amelia, Zelgadis, and Gourry are all sitting around the breakfast table. Their eyes have purple rings from lack of sleeps. All heads are bowed, no one is eating much. Silence. Everyone's thoughts are with the missing group member.  
It's been two days since the whole poison ordeal began. Lina's condition has worsened. Filia had received the message and arrived the previous night. Everyone had been taking turns sitting with the patient and trying to eat & sleep. At the moment, Filia is in with Lina, seeing if her Golden Dragon healing powers might help.  
"Argh!" She sighs in frustration. "I can't stand this! Usually, Ryuzoku magic can heal anything! I'm so sorry, Miss Lina! I've failed you!" Filia bursts into tears and flees the room  
"Filia, it's not your fault..." the sickly sorceress mumbles, a little late.  
Gourry shuffles in to take the priestess' place.  
"Um, hi, Lina. Sorry 'bout Filia, she's taking the blame for some reason." He puts his arms behind his head and looks down guiltily. "Guess she doesn't realize it's my fault."  
"Huh? Gourry, what are you talking (cough) about?" Lina asks weakly.  
"Well, y'know, I'm your protector and everything, and I let you down. I made you a promise and then I broke it," he continues, despite Lina's feeble protests. By this time, he's kneeling by her bed and tears are welling up in his eyes.  
Lina reaches out and takes his hand. Gourry looks up, surprised.  
"Gourry, it's not your fault. No one's to blame (cough) except me. That guy caught (cough) me off-guard. Guess I shouldn't have (cough) blown up his town, eh?" The swordsman is moved by her attempt at humor even in her condition.  
"Oh, Lina..." Gourry's vision is temporarily blurred by the love he feels for this woman. Or maybe it's just the tears filling his eyes.) Huh. He had never thought of Lina as a woman before. And he had never really acknowledged his love for her. Well, no better time than now.  
"Um, Lina, I need to tell you something," he begins.  
"Gourry, (cough) hand me the water, please," she interrupts.  
Grudgingly, he obliges and tries again.  
"Lina, this is really important, and I don't think I'll have another chance to tell you."  
"Sure, Gourry, but first, could you bring me the bedpan? Y'know, nature calls."  
With a grunt of frustration, Gourry grabs the bedpan and tries again, nerves wearing thin.  
"Just listen for a second. So, we've known each other a long time, right? Like a couple years together 24/7." Meanwhile, Lina is hobbling over to the curtain to, erm, do her thing. Gourry is still attempting to talk to her. "And ya know how people grow really attached to each other when they spend so much time together like us?" Lina's finished and limps over to the sink. "Well, I guess what I'm trying to say...My point is...Lina will you stop that and listen to me!" he bursts out.  
Lina pauses, looks at him, and cocks her head. "Gourry, you idiot, what (cough) are you trying to tell me? Spit it out, for goodness' sake!"  
Now, the usually insanely calm Gourry explodes.  
"If you would just listen to me, I'm trying to tell you that I love you! There! I said it! Now I'll leave you to your bedpan!"  
He storms out, leaving Lina staring after him in shock.  
Amelia, who had been nearby, pokes her head in.  
"Are you all right, Miss Lina? What was all that shouting about? Was it Mr. Gourry? I saw him stomp off angrily. That's weird, I've never seen Mr. Gourry yell, especially not at you."  
She comes into the room to help the almost catatonic sorceress sit down.  
"H-he...Amelia, he told me he loves me..." she breathes.  
"Oh, Miss Lina! How wonderful! Just too bad he has such awful timing. And how does that relate to all the shouting I heard? Ooh, did you tell him you love him back? I know you do, Miss Lina, don't try to hide it. I wonder if he'll try to marry you before, you know...Can I be the bridesmaid?..." Amelia is just full of energy, and just keeps on babbling about such romantic thing. Lina tunes her out to think about what just happened.  
He loves me? Gourry really loves me? Wow...Stupid girl! Why didn't you tell him you love him, too! Because you don't know if you do...(flashback to miscellaneous Gourry/Lina scenes) Of course you do! What are you talking about? He means more to you than anything. How could I have hurt him like that...Gotta tell him...Gotta find him...ZZZZ... Lina drops off to sleeps, Amelia still happily chattering away.  
* * * *  
Two more days pass. Lina has many visitors. Sylphiel, Xelloss, Naga, and Martina, to name a few, have stopped by. Martina is actually being nice, and even Xel is civil, though he's having a feast off everyone's despair and other such emotions. No one has seen Gourry since he ran off after his confession.  
Sitting around the table for lunch, Amelia and especially Sylphiel are getting worried.  
"Oh, I do hope Gourry dear is all right! He's all alone with no food, money, or supplies. I don't know what I'd do if he didn't come home!" Sylphiel sobs.  
"Don't worry about Gourry, Sylphiel. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself," Zelgadiss assures her.  
This doesn't relieve anyone's stress. Everyone is sitting in silence, contemplating this horrible turn of events when the doors bursts open to reveal a shadowy figure, who laughs evilly and points at Prince Phil.  
"You! Prince, where's my baby sister?" The person steps into the light to unveil herself as...Luna Inverse! She's wearing her usual waitress outfit, yet doesn't look like a force to be reckoned with.  
"Erm, um, exactly who are you, miss?" Phil stutters.  
"Why, I'm the (in)famous Luna Inverse, of course! The Knight of Cepheid! I heard that my dear little sister was sick and being held here. So of course I had to come down to see her and whip her back into shape!" she cackles. "Now where is Lina?"  
Prince Phil stands up and approaches Luna.  
"Miss, you do know that Miss Lina is very sick, right? What I mean is, there's nothing you can do to 'whip her into shape'. She's going to die very soon."  
"Nonsense, she's an Inverse! She can survive Rezo, Kopii Rezo, Shabranigdo, Phibrizzo, Valgaav, Gaav, and being stuck with you pathetic loser! What's one little cold compared to all that?"  
"It's not exactly a cold. It's poison. An incurable poison." Xelloss explains, as he is the only one emotionally stable. (And I wanted to give my Xelly-kun some lines! ^_^)  
"Hmph! We'll see about that!" Luna spots Lina's room and walks in the slightly ajar door...And slams it in Phil's face as he tries to follow her.  
"Hello, baby sister! I hear you're feeling a bit under the weather. Then I'm sure you're glad to see me! (silence) Lina?"  
"Luna reaches out for the light switch and flips it on. She's greeted by the image of a sleeping Lina. She stretched out, arms hanging off the edge of the bed, legs dangling in strange positions. Her face is ghostly white and drool is dribbling out her mouth. Beads of sweat are sliding down her forehead & cheeks, and her closed eyes are twitching. It's such a gruesome picture that even Luna can't help but let out a gasp.  
Lina stirs and wakes up. One eye opens, see Luna, and then the other opens wide.  
"Luna! What (cough, cough) are you doing? Here to (cough, cough) make my last days miserable?"  
"No, actually, I had no idea these were your last days. How could you be so stupid? Letting yourself be poisoned like that. I thought I taught you never to let your guard down or trust anyone."  
"Luna, I don't (cough, cough) need your bullshit right now. If all (cough) you're gonna do is chastise me, (cough) you might as well leave."  
Luna sighs and sits down next to the bed.  
"Look, I didn't just come here to chastise you. I know you don't believe it, but I have a conscience. (Lina snorts) And if I let you die without making peace, I'd never forgive myself." Luna bows her head.  
"Really? You mean it? (cough) Never thought I'd hear that," Lina whispers.  
"Yeah, well, nothing's impossible...So I just wanted to tell you that I'' real sorry. I know I haven't been a really good big sister. (Lina snorts again) But I've realized that, and I apologize. Lina, can you ever forgive me?"  
"You're my sister, how could I not? No matter (cough) what, you know I love you."  
Between sniffs and tears, Luna manages to reciprocate and they share a sisterly hug.  
They separate and Luna gets up. Lina lies back down.  
"Well, guess I should get back to work, eh? Waitressing is such a hard job!" Luna walks to the door. "Lina...Goodbye. I'll miss you. And if you ever tell anyone about this little emotional exchange, I'll bring you back from the dead so I can kill you again!" She smiles cheerfully and leaves.  
OK Lina thinks. Now that that's over with, I just hafta figure out what to do about Gourry...  
* * * *  
Gourry walks along the bank of the Healy River. It has been four days since he left Lina. Since then, he's done some serious thinking. (Yes, Gourry can think) He still loves Lina, and has come to adopt a fatalistic attitude.  
Might as well go back. Be with Lina for at least a little before she dies. And what then? There's nothing left for me anywhere. Without Lina, I have no one. Zel, Amelia and the others will be friendly and everything, but they only stuck around for Lina. Maybe Sylphiel could give me a home. She was there before Lina...  
Presently, Gourry has reached the outskirts of Sairune, and his train of thought is interrupted by an ear-splitting scream from the nearby castle. It sounds a lot like Amelia.  
Within seconds, Gourry runs to the door and enters the castle. Guards chase after him, but soon stop when they remember who he is. Ignoring his surprise at being able to remember the way to Lina's room, the swordsman races up stairs and through doors until he's arrived at the all-too-familiar common room where they ate meals. Filia, Xelloss, and Sylphiel are sitting around the table with tears in their eyes. (Xelloss isn't crying) Zelgadiss, Amelia, and Phil are crowded around Lina's door.  
"Dear Gourry, where have you been?" Sylphiel rushes over to him, trying to see if she can do anything for him.  
Shaking her off, he asks, "What's wrong? Is Lina okay?"  
"Erm, Gourry dear, why don't you sit down and have something to eat? I'm sure you're famished."  
"No, I want to see Lina."  
Filia stands up and goes to Gourry, crying.  
"Miss Lina has taken a turn for the worst. About five minutes ago, she had a seizure, and now she's unconscious." He tries to break it to him gently.  
Without saying a word, Gourry walks to Lina's room. Amelia is seated next to the bed, holding the redhead's limp hand. Zelgadiss is leaning against the wall, eyes closed, face twisted in a painful expression never before seen on his face. Both are pale and look up as Gourry walks in.  
"Oh, Mr. Gourry, you're back. It's been a while..."  
No one seemed to mention the huge tragedy staring them in the face.   
After a minute of taking in the details, Gourry gives Amelia and Zel a look that says he wants to be alone with Lina. Obligingly, they leave, shutting the doors behind them.  
Gourry moves to Lina's bedside and takes her frail, white hand in his big, strong ones.  
"Lina, I just want to say that I'm sorry for getting mad at you before. Not that I take my words back. I love you and always will. I'm just really frustrated and angry at myself for not having the courage to tell you earlier. Guess I was just scared you'd fireball me. Heh heh...(nervous laugh) And now that you can't fireball me, it's for the wrong reason. So, I..." he was at a loss for words.  
Miraculously, Lina opens her eyes. Gourry, who hadn't noticed due to the fact that he was looking down, anxiously, studying his hands, jumped when she spoke. "Gourry..."  
"Lina! You're awake! Maybe you have a chance to fight this thing!"  
"No...Gourry, I love you..." And she died.  
"Lina? Lina! NOOOOOOOO!" Everyone came running to find the deceased sorceress in the sobbing swordsman's arms.  
* * * *  
For the next couple days, everyone walked around in a daze. No one could really believe the famous sorceress Lina Inverse was dead. Of all her former traveling companions, Gourry took it the hardest, for obvious reasons.  
He stands, teetering on the edge of a cliff, looking over the brink, daring the wind to blow him to his death. A painful death. A gruesome death. A welcome death.  
At this point, Gourry has nothing left for him. Well, Sylphiel, but he never really liked her. She was too...Not Lina...  
Why not jump? Might as well, the love of his life was dead, and if he ended it they could be together in the afterlife. All right...  
"Goodbye, cruel world! Thank you for giving me life. Goodbye, Sylphiel, Amelia, Zelgadiss, Philionel, Xelloss, Filia, Mom, Dad, EVERYONE! Wait up, Lina, I'm coming, too!" Gourry lets go and topples over the cliff, hitting rocks and branches along the way.  
Gourry died before making it all the way down. For the rest of eternity, Gourry and Lina continue their adventures and journeys in another world.  
owari  



End file.
